THE CLOSING CEREMONY

THE CLOSING CEREMONY

My alma mater has been a temple, a temple of knowledge, transformation, teamwork, books, friends, meaningfulness and most importantly, LIFE! Here is the first time that I pay tribute to it….because it deserves at least a final goodbye!

the last look...

“Inside the campus, you make the world go round, outside it; the world makes you go round!! Make the most out of it. I hope you all understand it soon”, said an emotional Mr. Ganapaty Subramaniam, our professor in the engineering mathematics class in the third semester after announcing the pathetic condition of our section in a test . Few paid attention to what he said and fewer to the fact that he was emotional for a change! Today, when I am all set to start a new life outside the college, I realize that it hurts to leave. It’s going to be the most difficult good-bye. Only those who have lived this life can understand the beauty of it. Think of the colors and flavors it brings along and it keeps amazing you with its variety. The best of friends, gorgeous gals, hot guys, first crush, break-ups, successes, failures, college fests, parties, night outs, movies, valentine days, raksha bandhans (!) and sometimes studies too! Right from the ‘Fresher’s day’ to the farewells, every day does count on the calendar of happiness.  Every time I look back at my life, I become more and more assured that college life has been the best span of it.

We all have cursed the filthy assignments, strict teachers, narrow mentality, bad infrastructure, slimy management and what not?? But trust me; towards the end, everything undergoes a beautiful transformation. You start loving the broken desks, writing assignments, finishing courses, cleaning lab coats and most difficult of all, you start liking your room mate! It’s surprising to realize that you could be so sensitive to cry all alone on window for those whom you had started taking for granted. The other day when I started packing up for home, I found comic notes passed during classes, passport size photographs stolen at crucial junctures, the first rose I received, the first assignment, the test papers, the metal scraps from workshops, the never used diaries and many things that made the 4 years pass before me in a split second.

A punch in the identity card you hated to carry around, changes everything. Every spot at the campus starts reminding you of an incidence, every face that you have grown in habit of looking every day at, starts moving afar, the mess workers suddenly seem so friendly, mess food turns delicious, the spectacles become more beautiful, evening coffees with friends seem more refreshing than ever, you start noticing so many new things because finally you started looking at your college as if you will never see it again. You start living the life you had always dreamt of, only to find that it’s all going to end very soon. The last days hurt more because it’s a happiness that knows limits.

And it all strikes suddenly when your train starts for your hometown. You see the city that made your most beautiful years, passing through the window, you know you can’t do anything to stop the time, you know you can’t help it and tears roll down while your friends wave goodbye at the junction. You shout out few words of care, routine abuses and jump out of the train to hug them one last time. You know that to gain very few things in life further, you are going to lose a lot. And still you have to let the wheels of time move. All through the journey it feels as if someone had just cut a connection that was there since you began and this wound is never going to heal. Back at home, when you reach, it’s more surprising to find yourself up to nothing! Yes! Positively nothing! Even if you were not a workaholic at campus, you are unable to enjoy a stay at home, a place you rushed to at the shortest of holidays. You feel had you come a little later, you could have stolen a day more at your favorite hang out at campus, an evening more of fresh air at the sky scrapers, a night more in your hostel bed, one more fight with your room mate, one more look at your crush, one more hug from a dear friend, one more day of life!! You know none of this is possible and you soothe yourself with the cool breeze from your bedroom window half wishing that it has come touching your college and. You talk to family and distract yourself from tears, you wish for all of it to come back and start finding ways. You hope convocation was a little earlier…..You promise yourself to be in contact with those who matter and pull up your laptop to write this piece…and life goes on! J